Session Information
23 SES 01 C, Focusing on Citizenship
Paper Session
Contribution
The last decades have been witnessing a renewed interest in citizenship both in terms of theory and research (e.g., Beiner, 1995, Isin & Turner, 2002, Heater, 2005, Arnot, 2009), particularly related to the intensification of signs of political disengagement and apathy within young people and adults, both in emerging and “historical” democracies (e.g., Amadeo et al., 2002). It is therefore not surprising that there is a widespread emphasis on the role education should play to counteract these tendencies, and that, since the last years of the XXth century, Citizenship Education (CE) became the motto for educational reforms across Europe (Menezes, 2003, Hedtke, Zimenkova, Hippe, 2007, Jover, Naval, 2007, Araújo, 2008).
Schools have historically played a central role in the promotion of the “ideal” citizen, particularly during the institution of the Nation State when the school was the vehicle for the “creation” of national identities (Habermas, 1992). However, the European educational reforms since the mid-nineties assumed that both curriculum and school environment should promote social cohesion, mutual understanding, solidarity and citizens’ active and democratic participation in order to provide “young people with an idea of what is meant by responsible citizenship within a democratically based society”, as well as “what it means to be a citizen, the kinds of rights and duties that citizenship entails and how to behave like a ‘good citizen’” (Eurydice, 2005, p. 7). Additionally, institutions such as the Council of Europe and the European Commission supported several studies on the role of schools in this domain (ICCS). However, there is an intense diversity in European history in terms of democracy and citizenship; many countries are members of the European Union, and many others are not; many European countries have stable democracies since the WWII, while others experienced democratic transitions during the seventies (Portugal, Spain and Greece) or the nineties; in some European countries there are vibrant civil societies while in others authoritarian structures are still dominant.
Given this diversity, this paper aims to understand whether educational policies emphasise a political culture that values citizens’ active participation, but simultaneously acknowledges the country’s political history in terms of citizenship rights and duties. What kind of CE approach do the educational policies advocate? Does CE recognize and reflect on the experiences of those periods in the country’s History where citizens’ rights and duties were menaced? How is citizenship defined and operationalized in terms of participation and critical consciousness of the past?
Method
Expected Outcomes
References
Amadeo, J., Torney-Purta, J., Lehman, R., Husfeld, V., Nikolova, R. (2002). Civic Knowledge and Engagement. An IEA study of upper secondary students in sixteen countries. Amsterdam: IEA. Araújo, H. C. (2008). Teachers’ perspectives in Portugal and recent institutional contributions on citizenship education in Journal of Social Science Education, 6, (2), pp 73-83; Arnot, M. (2009) Educating the Gendered Citizen – sociological engagements with national and global agendas, Londres/Nova Iorque: Routledge; Beiner, R. (1995). (ed). Theorizing Citizenship. New York: State University of New York Press; Euridyce (2005). Citizenship Education at School in Europe. European Comission. Directorat-General for Education and Culture; Habermas, J. (1992). Citizenship and National Identity: Some Reflections on the Future of Europe. Praxis International. 12, 1, 1-19. Heater, D. (2005). What is citizenship? Cambridge. Polity Press; Hedtke, R. Zimenkova, T., Hippe, T. (2007). A Trinity of Transformation, Europeanisation and Democratisation? Current Research on Citizenship Education in Europe. Journal of Social Science Education, Vol. 8, Number 2, pp. 5:20; Isin, E., Turner, B. eds. (2002). Handbook of citizenship studies. London. Sage; Jover, G., Naval, C. (2007). Transformed Institutions – Transformed Citizenship Education? Remarks on the Current Situation in Spain, in Europe. Journal of Social Science Education, Vol. 8, Number 2, pp. 29-39; Kerr, D. (2004). All-European Study on Policies for Education for Democratic Citizenship (EDC).Region Study. Western Europe Region. National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER), Slough, United Kingdom; Menezes, I. (2003). Civic Education in Portugal: curricular evolution in basic education. Online Journal of Social Science Education, Number 2, pp. 1-13; Schulz, W., Ainley, J., Fraillon, J., Kerr, D. & Losito, B. (2010). Initial Findings from the IEA International Civic and Citizenship Education Study. Amsterdam: IEA.
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